Stay up late for tonight's lunar eclipse

Skywatchers in Southern Oregon should be able to see a total lunar eclipse overnight that could appear to stain the moon a reddish color, a phenomenon traditionally known as a "blood moon."

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Posted Apr. 14, 2014 at 1:10 PM

Posted Apr. 14, 2014 at 1:10 PM

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Skywatchers in Southern Oregon should be able to see a total lunar eclipse overnight that could appear to stain the moon a reddish color, a phenomenon traditionally known as a "blood moon."

The Earth's shadow will begin to encroach on the full moon at 10:58 p.m. locally and will totally cover the moon by 12:06 a.m., NASA reports. The total phase will last 78 minutes. By 1:24 a.m. Tuesday, the moon will begin to emerge from the shadow and it will appear normal by 2:33 a.m.

While in eclipse, the moon likely will be tinted red as light from around the edges of the Earth — essentially sunrises and sunsets — splashes across the lunar surface, Alan MacRobert, senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine, told The Associated Press.

Between 11 and midnight, the moon will be high over the Rogue Valley and skies should be mostly clear.

"We might have some high clouds, but not enough to block the view," said Mike Petrucelli, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Medford.

Tonight's lunar eclipse, which will be visible across the western hemisphere, is the first of four consecutive total eclipses of the moon in what scientists call a lunar eclipse "tetrad" series, space.com reports. The other lunar eclipses in the series are Oct. 8, April 4, 2015, and Sept. 28, 2015. NASA says the series is unique because each eclipse will be visible from all parts of the U.S.